Lean private copy of media content within network-based digital video recordings

ABSTRACT

Described herein are techniques and mechanisms for providing a lean private copy of media content. According to various embodiments, a private copy of a media content item may be made specific to a user account. For example, to use a private copy of a media content item to present that media content item, a client machine may need to first perform operations such as account authentication, content licensing, and device-based DRM. The private copy of the media content item may be significantly deduplicated such that the actual size on disk of the private copy is small relative to the size of the uncompressed media content item. The private copy of the media content item may include reference information which maps the user account associated with the copy to data files associated with the recording.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to the creation and storing of privatecopies of media content for presentation on content playback devices.

DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ART

End users often subscribe to content services that include live contentstreams. These users often prefer to watch content at a time that islater than that when the content was originally presented. Accordingly,users commonly employ digital video recording (DVR) devices or servicesto record content for later presentation. One approach to DVR is tomaintain a physical device with content storage capabilities on theuser's premises. However, such DVR devices suffer from numerousdrawbacks, such as expense and lack of storage space. Accordingly, manyusers employ a DVR service that records content off of the user'spremises and then provides the recorded content to the user on demand.

In many configurations, a DVR service provider is different from thesource of a live content stream. For instance, a DVR service providermay provide DVR services for live content streams generated by a varietyof television networks or other such content sources. In somejurisdictions, when multiple users request to record the same contentitem, some courts have held that copyright law requires a DVR serviceprovider to maintain a private copy of the recorded content item foreach user rather than to maintain a single copy of the recorded contentitem for all users. However, maintaining separate copies of a singlecontent item for many different users imposes a substantial burden onDVR service providers. Accordingly, improved techniques for providingprivate copies of recorded media content items are desired.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The disclosure may best be understood by reference to the followingdescription taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, whichillustrate particular embodiments.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of an overview method for providing a leanprivate copy that can be used with various techniques and mechanisms ofthe present invention.

FIG. 2 illustrates one example of a lean private copy associated with aparticular user account that may be generated in accordance withtechniques and mechanisms described herein.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a system that may be used to create andretrieve a lean private copy that can be used in conjunction withvarious techniques and mechanisms of the present invention.

FIG. 4 illustrates one example of a method for creating a lean privatecopy.

FIG. 5 illustrates one example of a method for retrieving a lean privatecopy.

FIG. 6 illustrates one example of a system.

FIG. 7 illustrates an alternative example of a lean private copy.

DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLE EMBODIMENTS

Reference will now be made in detail to some specific examples of theinvention including the best modes contemplated by the inventors forcarrying out the invention. Examples of these specific embodiments areillustrated in the accompanying drawings. While the invention isdescribed in conjunction with these specific embodiments, it will beunderstood that it is not intended to limit the invention to thedescribed embodiments. On the contrary, it is intended to coveralternatives, modifications, and equivalents as may be included withinthe spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

For example, the techniques of the present invention will be describedin the context of fragments, particular servers and encoding mechanisms.However, it should be noted that the techniques of the present inventionapply to a wide variety of different fragments, segments, servers andencoding mechanisms. In the following description, numerous specificdetails are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding ofthe present invention. Particular example embodiments of the presentinvention may be implemented without some or all of these specificdetails. In other instances, well known process operations have not beendescribed in detail in order not to unnecessarily obscure the presentinvention.

Various techniques and mechanisms of the present invention willsometimes be described in singular form for clarity. However, it shouldbe noted that some embodiments include multiple iterations of atechnique or multiple instantiations of a mechanism unless notedotherwise. For example, a system uses a processor in a variety ofcontexts. However, it will be appreciated that a system can use multipleprocessors while remaining within the scope of the present inventionunless otherwise noted. Furthermore, the techniques and mechanisms ofthe present invention will sometimes describe a connection between twoentities. It should be noted that a connection between two entities doesnot necessarily mean a direct, unimpeded connection, as a variety ofother entities may reside between the two entities. For example, aprocessor may be connected to memory, but it will be appreciated that avariety of bridges and controllers may reside between the processor andmemory. Consequently, a connection does not necessarily mean a direct,unimpeded connection unless otherwise noted.

Overview

Private copies of media content items may be created for laterpresentation at client machines. A private copy of a media content itemmay be made specific to a user account through the use of encryptiontechnology and digital rights management. For example, to use a privatecopy of a media content item to present that media content item, aclient machine may need to first perform operations such asauthenticating a user account and retrieving a content license. Theprivate copy of the media content item may be significantly deduplicatedsuch that the actual size on disk of the private copy is small relativeto the size of the uncompressed media content item. However, the privatecopy of the media content item may include references that allow thenecessary data to be retrieved (e.g., from a media library ordeduplication repository) with appropriate authentication and/orverification procedures.

Example Embodiments

According to various embodiments, users may receive content from acontent management service. The content management service mayfacilitate the interaction of users with various types of contentservices. For instance, the content management service may provide auser interface for managing and accessing content from a number ofdifferent content sources. The interface may display content receivedlive via a cable or satellite television connection, one or moreon-demand-video service providers such as Netflix or Amazon, and contentaccessible on local or network storage locations. In addition, theinterface may be used to access this content on any number of contentplayback devices.

End users often subscribe to content services that include live contentstreams, and many users employ a DVR service that records content off ofthe user's premises and then provides the recorded content to the useron demand. In some jurisdictions, when multiple users request to recordthe same content item, some courts have held that copyright law requiresa DVR service provider to maintain a private copy of the recordedcontent item for each user rather than to maintain a single copy of therecorded content item for all users.

Maintaining separate copies of a single content item for many differentusers requires substantial storage space, which can present prohibitivetechnological obstacles. For example, if 1,000,000 users request torecord a popular sporting event that requires 1,000 MB to store on disk,the total storage space required would total 1 petabyte. In addition,maintaining separate copies of a single content item conflicts withstandard approaches to content streaming, which typically involvecaching frequently and/or recently requested content in a cache serverequipped to quickly provide the content to different client machines.Caching content in this way is typically much faster than retrievingcontent from the type of bulk storage infrastructure typically involvedin storing large scale (e.g., petabyte) data.

According to various embodiments, techniques and mechanisms describedherein provide for creating and transmitting a lean private copy of amedia content item that is specific to a particular user account whileat the same time requiring substantially less storage space than anuncompressed copy. In particular embodiments, a lean private copy of amedia content item may employ digital rights management, encryption,and/or authentication technologies to ensure its specificity. That is, auser having possession of the lean private copy could not employ thelean private copy to present the media content without firstauthenticating as the user account linked with the lean private copy.

In some implementations, a lean private copy of a media content item mayinclude references to data segments that include media contentassociated with the media content item. In a typical lean private copy,each data segment may be small in comparison to the overall size of theuncompressed media content item. Further, data segments may bededuplicated in the sense that although different lean private copiesmay include references to the same data segment, the service providerneed not store a separate copy of the data segment for each lean privatecopy that refers to it. As used herein, the term “lean private copy”refers to a copy of a media content item that is both specific to aparticular content management account and that includes references toone or more deduplicated data segments.

In particular embodiments, a lean private copy stored and transmitted asdescribed herein may also allow a service provider to employ contentcaching. For example, when a client machine requests a particular datasegment, the data segment may be stored in a caching system so that asubsequent request by a different client machine may be served by thecaching system rather than by a more permanent large-scale storagesystem.

According to various embodiments, the content management service mayreceive content from various sources, such as content service providers.Then, the content management service may transcode the content fortransmission to client machines. Content transcoding refers to anyprocess for changing data encoded in one format to data encoded in adifferent format. In particular embodiments, transcoding may involve alossy process that introduces generation loss into the resulting contentencoding. Alternately, or additionally, transcoding may involve alossless process such as lossless compression or decompression.

According to various embodiments, content sent from a service providerto client machines may be transcoded into various encoding formats for avariety of reasons. For instance, the content may be transcoded so thatcontent may be transmitted to client devices that do not support theoriginal format or that have a relatively limited storage capacity thatcan better handle a reduced file size. For instance, Cineon and DPXfiles have been widely used as a common format for digital cinema, butthe data size of a two-hour movie is about 8 terabytes, which is muchtoo large for streaming over currently available networks to modemcontent playback devices. In some instances, a transcoded encoding maybe encoded in a screen resolution smaller than that of the originalencoding. For instance, the source encoding may be encoded at arelatively high resolution, while the transcoded encoding may bepresented in a significantly smaller resolution.

In particular embodiments, techniques and mechanisms described hereinmay be used for HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) and Dynamic Adaptive Streamingover HTTP (DASH), and any other ABR (Adaptive Bitrate) streamingtechnologies. However, the techniques and mechanisms are generallyapplicable to a wide range of video content technologies.

In some implementations, a media content item may be transcoded intodifferent encoding formats, quality levels, or bit rates. Further, anencoding of a media content item may be divided into time periods. Thus,a lean private copy of a media content item may include references todifferent data segments for the same period of time, where the differentdata segments are encoded differently. In this way, a client machineseeking to present the media content item may request a data segmentappropriate to the situation. For example, a mobile phone and a personalcomputer may both employ the same lean private copy of a media contentitem to present the media content item provided that each deviceperforms the appropriate authentication procedures associated with thecontent management account linked to the lean private copy. However, amobile phone on a cellular network having a lean copy of the mediacontent item may request lower quality data segments than a personalcomputer having the same lean copy of the media content item on ahigh-speed wired network.

In particular embodiments, different user accounts may be licensed toview the same media content item at different levels of quality. In thiscase, a lean private copy of the media content item may reflect alicensed quality level. For example, a lean private copy associated witha user account licensed to view the media content at a particularquality level may only include references to data segments that do notexceed the licensed quality level.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of an overview method 100 for providing alean private copy that can be used with various techniques andmechanisms of the present invention. An example of a lean private copyconfigured in accordance with one or more implementations is shown inFIG. 2. According to various embodiments, the method may be performed ata content management system, components of which are shown in FIG. 3.

At 102, two or more private copies of a media content item are created.According to various embodiments, creating a private copy of a mediacontent item may involve operations such as providing a user-specificmanifest file that is made unique to a content management account viaselective media data reference inclusion, digital rights managementenforcement, account authentication, and/or data encryption procedures.Techniques for creating a lean private copy are discussed in additionaldetail with respect to FIG. 4.

At 104, deduplicated media content data is stored for the private copy.According to various embodiments, storing deduplicated media contentdata may involve operations such as receiving media content informationfrom a remote source, dividing the media content item into periods oftime, transcoding raw media content information into one or moreencoding formats, and/or storing encoded media content data in aretrievable fashion. Techniques for storing deduplicated media contentdata are discussed in additional detail with respect to FIG. 4.

At 106, a private copy of the media content item is provided uponrequest. According to various embodiments, providing a private copy ofthe media content item may involve operations such as authenticating aclient machine as being associated with a user account, providing acontent license for a media content item, providing the lean privatecopy to the client machine, and/or transmitting deduplicated mediasegments to the client machine as necessary for re-inflating the privatecopy. Techniques for providing a private copy of a media content itemare discussed in additional detail with respect to FIG. 5.

FIG. 2 illustrates one example of a lean private copy type A 200associated with a particular content management account that may begenerated in accordance with techniques and mechanisms described herein.According to various embodiments, the lean private copy 200 mayrepresent one or more media content items that have been recorded forlater presentation by a particular user. As is discussed herein, thelean private copy type A 200 is specific to a particular contentmanagement account. Further, the lean private copy type A 200 is onlyone type of a lean private copy that may be provided in accordance withtechniques and mechanisms described herein. Another example of a leanprivate copy is discussed with respect to FIG. 7.

In some implementations, the lean private copy 200 includes auser-specific manifest file 202. A media content item may be logicallydivided into a number of periods. Each of those periods may beassociated with a period description entry, such as the perioddescription entries 204, 206, and 208 shown in FIG. 2. The lean privatecopy 200 also includes user-specific file references 218, 220, and 222.

In particular embodiments, different periods may span different lengthsof time. Alternately, each period may span the same length of time. Thelength of time associated with a period may be selected in any ofvarious ways. For example, period length may be selected to reflect thetradeoff between the number of data segment requests and the ability toinitiate content playback in a timely fashion. By dividing the mediacontent item into more data segments, playback may be initiated morequickly. However, by dividing the media content item into fewer datasegments, a client device may need to make fewer distinct requests fordata segments. In some systems, data segments may average 10 to 15seconds in length. However, depending on various considerations,segments may be anywhere from less than one second to more than a minutein length.

In sonic embodiments, a period description entry may provide informationabout one or more representations of the period of time associated withthe period entry. For example, media data for a particular time periodmay be available at different bit rates to accommodate different userpreferences, device capabilities, network features, bandwidthlimitations, or other such characteristics of a particular streamingsituation. For instance, in the example lean private copy 200 shown inFIG. 2, the period 2 entry 206 is associated with a representation 210encoded at 500 kbps and a representation 212 encoded at 1000 kbps.

In particular embodiments, the same set of representationcharacteristics may be available for each period. Alternately, differentperiods may be associated with different types of representations. Forinstance, a media presentation period associated with content such asthe credits for a movie may be associated with fewer and/or lowerquality representations, while a media presentation period associatedwith high-information content such as fast-paced action may beassociated with more and/or higher quality representations.

According to various embodiments, each representation may be associatedwith some number of data segment references. For example, therepresentation 210 shown in FIG. 2 is associated with data segment 1reference 212, data segment 2 reference 214, and data segment nreference 216. Each data segment reference may correspond to aparticular period of time within the period of time represented by theassociated reference. For example, the representation 1 210 isassociated with the period 2 entry 2016, which spans the period from 100seconds to 295 seconds of the content represented by the mediapresentation 202. Within the representation 1 210, the segment 1reference 212 spans the period from 100 seconds to 115 seconds. As withthe period entries, the segments referred to by the segment referencesmay all be the same length or may be of different lengths.

In some implementations, each data segment reference may includeinformation for retrieving a particular data segment from a medialibrary. For instance, a data segment reference may include a uniformresource identifier (URI), segment identifier, or other such informationthat, when provided to the media library, causes the media. library toreturn the requested segment. In this way, the lean private copy 200 maybe used by a client machine to present the media content item at theclient machine.

In particular embodiments, a lean private copy is specific to aparticular content management account. For example, the lean privatecopy type A 200 shown in FIG. 2 includes user-specific file references218, 220, and 222. Each of these file references is a user-specific linkto a particular data segment. For example, the user-specific filereference 2 includes a local file path that itself includes severaldifferent components. According to various embodiments, these componentsinclude a user identifier, a segment identifier, and a file extension.

In some implementations, each user-specific file reference correspondswith a particular segment. For example, the user-specific file reference2 220 corresponds with the segment 2 214. Which is the second segment inthe 500 kbps representation 1 210 associated with the period 2 206 inthe media presentation 202.

In some embodiments, a user-specific file reference provides auser-specific link to a data segment that may be retrieved from a medialibrary. For example, the actual data included in the segmentcorresponding with the user-specific file reference 2 220 may be storedon a server in a deduplicated fashion. Then, the user-specific filereference 2 220 may be used to retrieve the data segment for playbackfrom the local file system when the data segment corresponding with thefile reference is retrieved from the media library.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of a system 300 that may be used to createand retrieve a lean private copy that can be used in conjunction withvarious techniques and mechanisms of the present invention. The system300 includes a client machine 302, an IDM/authentication manager 304, anlicense server 306, a media library 308, and content sources 324, 326,and 328. The media library 308 includes a private copy repository 310,which includes private copies 312, 314, 316. The media library 308 alsoincludes a request processing engine 320 and a deduplication repository318, which includes data segments 320, 322, 324, 326, and 328. Thesecomponents are described in further detail with reference to the methodsshown in FIGS. 4 and 5.

According to various embodiments, the components shown in FIG. 3 may beimplementing via some combination of hardware and software. For example,the media library 308 may include one or more of each of storagedevices, processors, communications interfaces, and memory banks. Insome configurations, a single component such as a request processingengine 320 may include potentially many different physical devices.Alternately, or additionally, some components, such as the private copyrepository 310 and the deduplication repository 318, may have one ormore physical devices in common.

FIG. 4 illustrates one example of a method 400 for creating a leanprivate copy. For instance, the method 400 may be performed in order tocreate a private copy such as the copy 312 shown in FIG. 3. According tovarious embodiments, the method 400 may be performed in conjunction withone or more of the computing components shown in FIG. 3.

At 402, media content data is received from a remote source. Accordingto various embodiments, a media system may receive media content fromany of a variety of remote sources. Although only three sources areshown in FIG. 3, a media system may receive media content frompotentially hundreds or thousands of different sources. These sourcesmay include, but are not limited to: broadcast television networks,cable television networks, premium content networks, or internet-basedcontent providers (e.g., Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, etc.).

In particular embodiments, a content source may provide content in alive streaming format. For example, a broadcast or cable televisionnetwork typically provides content on a channel on which one contentitem is presented at a time in a live-streaming fashion. In someconfigurations, the service provider associated with the media library308 may be responsible for providing such live streaming contentdirectly to a client machine. Alternately, a client machine may receivelive streaming content from a different source (e.g., a broadcastantenna) and employ the service provider for DVR services.

At 404, a request is received to create a private copy of a mediacontent item in association with a content management account. In someembodiments, the request may be received from a client machine, such asthe client machine 302 shown in FIG. 3. The request may be providedthrough a web browser, a set top box, a mobile device, or any othersuitable mechanism. The request may indicate one or more media contentitems to record. Alternately, or additionally, the request may indicatea time to start recording and a time to stop recording a particularlive-streaming content channel,

As will be discussed with respect to FIG. 4, the client machine mayperform one or more authentication operations so that the request isassociated with a particular content management account. For instance,the client machine may provide a username, password, certificate, token,or other such information to confirm an identity.

In particular embodiments, a request to create a private copy may bescheduled in advance, for instance when requesting to record alive-streaming content item. Scheduling the private copy operation mayinvolve operations such as creating or modifying an entry in a databaseor other bookkeeping mechanism. The entry may indicate information suchas the content management account associated with the request, a timethe request was made, an identifier for the media content requested tobe stored, and/or a time at which the media content item is to berecorded or received.

At 406, a determination is made as to whether reference media segmentsfor the media content item are stored in the deduplication repository.According to various embodiments, the determination may be made bychecking a database or other such tracking system to identify whetherreference media segments are already present. If reference mediasegments are already present, then they need not be stored again.

At 408, reference media source segments are written to the deduplicationrepository. In the example shown in FIG. 3, content deduplication may beperformed by the deduplication engine 322. The deduplication engine 322may be responsible for receiving raw media content from content sources,such as the sources 324, 326, and 328 shown in FIG. 3. The deduplicationengine 322 may process the raw media content for the creation of privatecopies stored in the private copy repository 310 as well as thededuplicated data segments stored in the deduplication repository 318.

According to various embodiments, storing deduplicated media contentdata may involve one or more operations for parsing raw media contentdata into a format suitable for referencing within a private copy. Forexample, a stream of raw media. content data may be divided into chunkscorresponding to periods of time. Data chunks may then be transcodedinto any of a variety of formats. Transcoded data for a data chunk maybe stored as segments that each correspond to a shorter period of timewithin the time period associated with the data chunk.

In the example shown in FIG. 3, a single media content item isassociated with “n” different deduplicated private user copies and “m”different data segments. However, a media system may store manydifferent private user copies of many different media content items.

In some implementations, creating deduplicated data segments mayinvolve, for instance, receiving raw media content data for the mediacontent item from the content source 2 326. The raw media content datamay then be divided into chunks, with a transcoding process producingone or more data segments for each of the chunks. The process oftranscoding may occur more than once, producing more than one datasegment for the same period of time, with different data segments havingdifferent characteristics e.g., bitrate, quality, etc.).

At 410, a private copy of the media content item is created that isspecific to the content management account. According to variousembodiments, creating each private copy may also involve constructingthe types of information and references shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 7. Forexample, the private copy may be created by constructing a manifest fileas well as one or more user-specific references to data segments. Themanifest file may include addresses for retrieving the data segmentsfrom the media library. The user-specific references may provide localfile system links to the deduplicated data segments once they have beenretrieved from the media library. The private copy may also beaccount-specific in the sense that it may only be used to retrieve thereferenced data segment by a client device that has been authenticatedin association with the content management account and that possesses acontent license that provides permission to retrieve the referenced datasegment.

FIG. 5 illustrates one example of a method 500 for retrieving a leanprivate copy. According to various embodiments, the method 500 may beperformed in conjunction with one or more of the computing componentsshown in FIG. 3

At 502, a content management account associated with a client machine isauthenticated. In the example configuration shown in FIG. 3, the clientmachine 302 may communicate with the identity manager(IDM)/authentication manager 304. This communication may involvetransmitting information from the client machine to identify a contentmanagement account. According to various embodiments, such informationmay include, but is not limited to: a username, a password, an accountnumber, a certificate, and/or a personal identification number (PIN). Insome instances the IDM/authentication manager 304 may request additionalinformation from the client machine 302 in order to completeauthentication.

In some embodiments, account authentication may result in theIDM/Authentication manager 304 issuing an authentication token to theclient machine 302. The client machine 302 may then use theauthentication token to verify the identity of the content managementaccount to other devices, such as the license server 306 and/or themedia library 308.

At 504, a content license is provided to the client machine. Accordingto various embodiments, providing a content license may involve aninteraction between the client machine (e.g., the client machine 302)and a license server (e.g., the license server 306). In thisinteraction, the client machine may request a content license associatedwith a particular media content item, such as an item for which theclient machine previously requested to create a private copy. The clientmachine may also provide authentication information such as anauthentication token issued by the IDM/authentication manager 304.

In some implementations, the license server may verify that the clientmachine is authorized to receive a license for the requested content. Aspart of this verification, the license server may verify the accountassociated with the client machine. For instance, the license server 306shown in FIG. 3 may apply an encryption algorithm to an authenticationtoken provided by the client machine to determine a content managementaccount associated with the client machine.

In particular embodiments, the license server may compare the contentmanagement account associated with the license request to a database orother repository of license permission information. The licensepermission information may indicate which content a particular contentmanagement account is authorized to access. For example, a particularaccount may be authorized to access only content that does not exceed aparticular quality level. As another example, a content managementaccount may be authorized to access some live streaming channels but notothers. As yet another example, a content management account may or maynot be authorized to access individual (e.g., pay-per-view) contentitems.

According to various embodiments, when the license server determinesthat the content management account is authorized to access therequested content item, the license server may provide the contentlicense to the client machine. The content license may take the form ofa cryptographic token that is linked to the particular contentmanagement account. That is, the content license may authorize aspecific content management account to retrieve a private copy of therequested media content item, but may not be used by other contentmanagement accounts to access the same media content item.

At 506, a private copy of the media content item is provided to theclient machine upon request. According to various embodiments, theprivate copy may be provided by the request processing engine 320, whichmay be configured to respond to content requests from potentially manydifferent client machines.

In particular embodiments, providing the private copy may involve firstverifying that the user is authorized to receive the private copy. Forinstance, the client machine 302 may provide the content license to therequest processing engine 320. The request processing engine 320 maythen apply a cryptographic algorithm to the content license to ensurethat the content license is valid and is associated with the contentmanagement account linked to the client machine 302 from which therequest initiated.

According to various embodiments, when the request is determined to bevalid, the request processing engine 320 may retrieve the appropriateprivate copy (e.g., user 2 copy 314) from the private copy repository(e.g., private copy repository 310). The private copy may then betransmitted to the client machine 302.

At 508, one or more deduplicated data segments of the media content itemare transmitted to the client machine. In some implementations, the datasegments may be explicitly requested by the client machine. For example,after the client machine has received the private copy, the clientmachine may then request specific data segments to re-inflate theprivate copy for presentation.

According to various embodiments, the client machine may request aspecific data segments by providing a request to the request processingengine that includes an identifier associated with the data segment. Forexample, each data segment in the private copy may be associated with anidentifier (e.g., a URI) that is specific to both the data segment andthe client machine. To retrieve the data segment, the client machine maythen need to establish a session with the request processing engine toverify the identity of the content management account. Within thatsession, the client machine may provide the identifier for the datasegment to retrieve it.

In some implementations, the request processing engine 320 may respondto a valid request for a data segment by retrieving the requested datasegment from the deduplication repository 318. The requested datasegment may then be transmitted to the client machine 302. Once arequested data segment has been received by the client machine, the datasegment may be used to facilitate the presentation of the media contentitem. For instance, the private copy may specify information such as anencoding for each data segment and an order in which data segments areto be presented.

In particular embodiments, a client machine may request different typesof data segments at different points during the presentation of a mediacontent item. For example, the client machine may initiate playback of amedia content item by first requesting data segments encoded at arelatively lower quality or bitrate, which may facilitate fast receiptof the requested data segments and thus enable the client machine toquickly initiate playback. However, the client machine may also bufferdata segments received from the media system and increase the quality ofsuccessive data segment requests as the buffer is filled. As anotherexample, the client machine may transition from requesting relativelyhigh-quality segments to requesting relatively low-quality segments ifnetwork speeds decay.

In particular embodiments, the system shown in FIG. 3 may include othercomponents that do not appear in FIG. 3. For example, the media library308 may include a caching system for caching recently or frequentlyretrieved data segments that are present in the deduplication repository318.

FIG. 6 illustrates one example of a server. According to particularembodiments, a system 600 suitable for implementing particularembodiments of the present invention includes a processor 601, a memory603, a storage device 609, an interface 611, and a bus 615 (e.g., a PCIbus or other interconnection fabric) and operates as a streaming server.When acting wider the control of appropriate software or firmware, theprocessor 601 is responsible for modifying and transmitting live mediadata to a client. Various specially configured devices can also be usedin place of a processor 601 or in addition to processor 601. Theinterface 611 is typically configured to send and receive data packetsor data segments over a network. The storage device 609 may include oneor more of a network attached storage (NAS), a storage area network(SAN) system, a local hard disc, or any other suitable component.

Particular examples of interfaces supported include Ethernet interfaces,frame relay interfaces, cable interfaces, DSL interfaces, token ringinterfaces, and the like. In addition, various very high-speedinterfaces may be provided such as fast Ethernet interfaces, GigabitEthernet interfaces, ATM interfaces, HSSI interfaces, POS interfaces,EMI interfaces and the like. Generally, these interfaces may includeports appropriate for communication with the appropriate media. In somecases, they may also include an independent processor and, in someinstances, volatile RAM. The independent processors may controlcommunications-intensive tasks such as packet switching, media controland management.

According to various embodiments, the system 600 is a server that alsoincludes a transceiver, streaming buffers, and a program guide database.The server may also be associated with subscription management, loggingand report generation, and monitoring capabilities. In particularembodiments, the server can be associated with functionality forallowing operation with mobile devices such as cellular phones operatingin a particular cellular network and providing subscription managementcapabilities. According to various embodiments, an authentication moduleverifies the identity of devices including mobile devices. A logging andreport generation module tracks mobile device requests and associatedresponses. A monitor system allows an administrator to view usagepatterns and system availability. According to various embodiments, theserver handles requests and responses for media content relatedtransactions while a separate streaming server provides the actual mediastreams.

Although a particular server is described, it should be recognized thata variety of alternative configurations are possible. For example, sonicmodules such as a report and logging module and a monitor may not beneeded on every server. Alternatively, the modules may be implemented onanother device connected to the server. In another example, the servermay not include an interface to an abstract buy engine and may in factinclude the abstract buy engine itself. A variety of configurations arepossible.

FIG. 7 illustrates one example of a lean private copy type B 700associated with a particular content management account that may begenerated in accordance with techniques and mechanisms described herein.According to various embodiments, the lean private copy 700 mayrepresent one or more media content items that have been recorded forlater presentation by a particular user. As is discussed herein, thelean private copy type B 700 is specific to a particular contentmanagement account. Further, the lean private copy type B 700 is onlyone type of a lean private copy that may be provided in accordance withtechniques and mechanisms described herein. Another example of a leanprivate copy is discussed with respect to FIG. 2.

In some implementations, the lean private copy 700 includes auser-specific manifest file 702 According to various embodiments, amedia content item may be provided in a number of different formats. Forexample, a media content item may be provided in different bitrates,encoding formats, or other such characteristics. Each of these differentformats may be described in the user-specific manifest file by aplaylist. For example, the user X manifest file 702 shown in FIG. 7includes playlists 704, 706, and 708 that each correspond with adifferent bitrate.

In some embodiments, each playlist may include a number of references tosegments. For example, the playlist 706 includes the segment references710, 712, and 714 that each correspond to a portion of the media contentitem.

In some implementations, each data segment reference may includeinformation for retrieving a particular data segment from a medialibrary. For instance, a data segment reference may include a uniformresource identifier (URI), segment identifier, or other such informationthat, when provided to the media library, causes the media library toreturn the requested segment. In this way, the lean private copy 700 maybe used by a client machine to present the media content item at theclient machine.

In particular embodiments, a lean private copy is specific to aparticular content management account. For example, the lean privatecopy type B 700 shown in FIG. 7 includes user-specific file references716, 718, and 720. Each of these file references is a user-specific linkto a particular data segment. For example, the user-specific filereference 7 includes a local file path that itself includes severaldifferent components. According to various embodiments, these componentsinclude a user identifier, a segment identifier, and a file extension.

In some implementations, each user-specific file reference correspondswith a particular segment. For example, the user-specific file reference2 718 corresponds with the segment 2 712, which is the second segment inthe playlist 706.

In some embodiments, a user-specific file reference provides auser-specific link to a data segment that may be retrieved from a medialibrary. For example, the actual data included in the segmentcorresponding with the user-specific file reference 2 770 may be storedon a server in a deduplicated fashion. Then, the user-specific filereference 7 770 may be used to retrieve the data segment for playbackwhen the data segment corresponding with the file reference is retrievedfrom the media library.

In the foregoing specification, the invention has been described withreference to specific embodiments. However, one of ordinary skill in theart appreciates that various modifications and changes can be madewithout departing from the scope of the invention as set forth in theclaims below. Accordingly, the specification and figures are to beregarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense, and allsuch modifications are intended to be included within the scope ofinvention.

1. A media system comprising: a private copy repository storing aplurality of private copies of a media content item, each private copybeing specific to a respective content management account, each privatecopy including a manifest file that identifies a plurality of datasegment references, each data segment reference identifying a respectivedata segment associated with the media content item, each private copyfurther including a plurality of user-specific file references that eachprovide a link to a corresponding one of the data, segments on a localfile system; a deduplication repository storing the plurality of datasegments; a request processing engine including a processor, memory, anda communications interface, the request processing engine configured toreceive from a client machine a request for the media content item, todetermine a designated content management account associated with therequest, to transmit to the client machine a selected one of theplurality of private copies that is associated with the designatedcontent management account, and to transmit one or more of the datasegments to the client machine upon receipt of the correspondingidentifier.
 2. The media system recited in claim 1, wherein determininga designated content management account associated with the requestcomprises: identifying a content license associated with the request,the content license authorizing the designated content managementaccount to access the content item.
 3. The media system recited in claim2, wherein the content license further includes authenticationinformation verifying that the client machine has been authenticated asassociated with the designated content management account.
 4. The mediasystem recited in claim 1, wherein the manifest file is configured inaccordance with a format selected from the group consisting of:Hyptertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) Live Streaming (HLS) and DynamicAdaptive Streaming over HTTP (DASH).
 5. The media system recited inclaim 1, wherein the manifest file is configured in accordance with anadaptive Nitrate streaming technology.
 6. The media system recited inclaim 1, wherein the media content item was previously-received by themedia system via a live stream.
 7. The media system recited in claim 1,wherein the media system further includes a content deduplication engineconfigured to receive a content stream associated with the media contentitem and to create the plurality of private copies.
 8. The media systemrecited in claim 7, wherein the content deduplication engine isconfigured to transcode the content stream to create the plurality ofdata segments.
 9. The media system recited in claim 1, wherein the mediasystem provides network-based digital video recording services to aplurality of users.
 10. A method comprising: receiving from a clientmachine a request for a media content item at a request processingengine that includes a processor, memory, and a communicationsinterface; determining a designated content management accountassociated with the request; transmitting to the client machine aselected one of a plurality of private copies of the media content itemstored in a private copy repository, each private copy being specific toa respective content management account, the selected private copyingbeing associated with the designated content management account, eachprivate copy including a manifest file that identifies a plurality ofdata segment references, each data segment reference identifying arespective data segment associated with the media content item, eachprivate copy further including a plurality of user-specific filereferences that each provide a link to a corresponding one of the datasegments on a local file system; and transmitting one or more of thedata segments to the client machine upon receipt of the correspondingidentifier.
 11. The method recited in claim 10, wherein determining adesignated content management account associated with the requestcomprises: identifying a content license associated with the request,the content license authorizing the designated content managementaccount to access the content item.
 12. The method recited in claim 11,wherein the content license further includes authentication informationverifying that the client machine has been authenticated as associatedwith the designated content management account.
 13. The method recitedin claim 10, wherein the manifest file is configured in accordance witha format selected from the group consisting of: HLS and DASH.
 14. Themethod recited in claim 10, wherein the manifest file is configured inaccordance with an adaptive bitrate streaming technology.
 15. The methodrecited in claim 10, wherein the media content item waspreviously-received by the media system via a live stream.
 16. Themethod recited in claim 10, wherein the media system providesnetwork-based digital video recording services to a plurality of users.17. One or more non-transitory computer readable media havinginstructions stored thereon for performing a method, the methodcomprising: receiving from a client machine a request for a mediacontent item at a request processing engine that includes a processor,memory, and a communications interface; determining a designated contentmanagement account associated with the request; transmitting to theclient machine a selected one of a plurality of private copies of themedia content item stored in a private copy repository, each privatecopy being specific to a respective content management account, theselected private copying being associated with the designated contentmanagement account, each private copy including a manifest file thatidentifies a plurality of data segment references, each data segmentreference identifying a respective data segment associated with themedia content item, each private copy further including a plurality ofuser-specific file references that each provide a link to acorresponding one of the data segments on a local file system; andtransmitting one or more of the data segments to the client machine uponreceipt of the corresponding identifier.
 18. The method recited in claim12, wherein determining a designated content management accountassociated with the request comprises: identifying a content licenseassociated with the request, the content license authorizing thedesignated content management account to access the content item. 19.The method recited in claim 13, wherein the content license furtherincludes authentication information verifying that the client machinehas been authenticated as associated with the designated contentmanagement account.
 20. The method recited in claim 12, wherein themanifest file is configured in accordance with an adaptive Nitratestreaming technology.